ABSTRACT
This article investigates the development of an intellectual project by Sérgio Buarque de Holanda: to study the expeditions by land and river into the inland parts of Brazil, and their aftermath. I analyze the author's trajectory during the first Vargas government, especially when he publishes Raízes do Brasil [Roots of Brazil] in 1936, and the establishment of the Estado Novo dictatorship the following year. I argue that it was in this context that Sérgio Buarque started to study the history of São Paulo society, viewing it as an alternative to traditional Iberian-style modernization.
Keywords:
cordiality; frontier; capitalist mentality